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Citing the progressive deterioration in road conditions, Milton selectman Tom Hurley suggested a new way to manage road maintenance.

"They are getting worse," Hurley said of the town's roads. "They are deteriorating faster than we can fix them."

Rather than use the town’s allotted Chapter 90 money from the state directly on road maintenance, Hurley suggested the town take out a 15-year loan and perform the equivalent of 11 years of road work in a single year.

Meanwhile, the town would put the money it receives from Chapter 90 into an interest-bearing account and pay down the loan.

According to Hurley’s calculations, money would only have to be placed into the account for the first 10 or 11 years based on a 2 percent interest rate on the loan and a 1.5 percent interest rate on the interest-bearing account. The process could then be repeated.

Department of Public Works Director Joe Lynch said he appreciated the idea and that it might work, but that more research was required.